What are your productivity secrets?

[Geauvoir]

Been in a bit of a slump recently. I ping-pong between INTJ and INTP. I've liked to-do lists, planning, prioritizing, and strategy since I was a kid. But the problem is that while I'm very good at knowing exactly what I want to do, I never actually do it. I usually end up taking a nap or whatever activity that gives me instant dopamine. I have mild ADHD-inattentive.

Come on, let's trade secrets!

1. Getting 90% of my work done first thing in the morning at 4am. The deviation from my routine is what generates the productivity. It's almost exciting and illicit to be up so early in the morning. And if you get up at 4am, you're forced to do something because it's a very intentional action.

2. Setting the rule that I can stay up as late as I need but all the work I've scheduled for the day must be completed. This does affect the morning-afters but I am homeschooling so I can sleep in.

3. Planning the entire week's work and breaking it up in advance. For the day, I can't make up excuses to do anything besides the work that I've allocated.

4. Exercising. It takes effort to move my butt but the power of inertia: things at rest stay at rest and things in motion stay in motion. On the weeks that I exercise regularly, I am much more productive and in control of my life.

5. Messing everything up. Variation is what drives me to work. Saturday to Wednesday is nothing, but Monday to Friday? That's just a way too long work-week.

6. Deep work. I've had friends who set studying goals like: "I'm going to study eight hours today." That's perfectly stupid to me. My goal is always to work as few hours as I possibly can. I try to aim for only four hours a day, less if possible.

A really good productivity Youtuber is Ali Abdaal if you haven't heard of him.

 

[dr froyd]

my biggest productivity secret is to align one's actions with a clear vision for who one wants to be

if one achieves this, one's motivation becomes correlated with one's physiological state - the body and brain start to work for you instead of against you. Like, the body will remove the feeling of tiredness so that you can keep working.

in this scenario you no longer need to make schedules and todo-lists, you simply become driven to do stuff all the time. Sometimes to the point where it's unhealthy.

 

[birdsnestfern]

Not too much productivity these days, unless its to find a way to make the world a little better. I asked my community to build a food box so we could share food with people that need it, and this led to people posting where food boxes already existed, so my productivity will be about sharing some food and other items I have too much of to make more space, as I've spent my whole life buying and now I need to spend the rest of my life giving things away.

I'm newly retired from 20 years of productivity, so I'm relishing the lazy me and have done this really well for months now and hope I can begin some productivity with decluttering, but its going to take finding motivation. I did a free decluttering workshop and got one corner of the house completed in 7 days, so I need to give things away every week on my local 'buy nothing' group.

For now, I am happy if I can make a meal, clean the dishes, take a shower, play on the internet and do some walking with my dog in a little park each day, and just attempt to downsize clutter a bit. Its clutter that is in shelving for the most part, but things like too much food, clothing, and books for example.

For exersize, I walk, bike and bought a weight lifting bench and work with ten pound hand weights to exersize forearms and situps. My motivation for now is learning new skills such as tying fishing knots, kayak fishing, steam and pressure canning, reading books and giving them away. Because we are in a pandemic, everything or almost everything has to be home based. I guess productivity would be, make small goals like 'do 5 decluttering things in each room each day'. Something like that. I'm not OCD unless its about seeing can labels in my cupboard from the front, not too good at the J tasks this way. I knew an INTJ that would color code his shirts and throw out mismatching hangers if they weren't the same color, I am on the other end of the spectrum as 95% P, don't care that much.

In contrast, if I'm being paid for it, when I worked, I would instantly satisfy any email or request and I was always the first to do so. Very competitive, had intense drive to get all assignments out of my way in a whirlwind. But when its just me, my main goal is to just let go of all that, and find the plain and simple 'being' me in order to start to find my spirit and joy and lighten up, so right now, thats all I care about, just to lighten up and have some fun. I want to discover some simple hobbies, but as an INTP I'm 95% I, 60% N, 60% T, 95% P, so I don't try to categorize into being productive I just want to clear something out of my way fast when its in front of me so its not consuming my attention and so I don't have to think about it anymore.

What helps my brain function for decisions better? B-Complex, B12, Boron, and Holy Basil extract, they help to calm me and make my brain get into that 'mode' of handling everything.

Something else that puts me into high gear, is raw juicing which helps my brain become very functional.

I peel beets, carrots, red apples, and wash everything else. Bundle up leaves like chard and put them into the blender portion, but put the hard veggies into the juicer portion, push a button and out comes raw beet and carrot and apple juice into the chard leaves in the blender. Then, switch and put the blender on, and combine greens with the juice, add bee pollen and maca powder and voila, a juice that will put energy in high gear.

I did a juice with: Two carrots, a few chard leaves torn off the heavy veins, three stalks celery, one red apple, one cucumber, one large raw beet, a little parsley. I was expecting it to be awful and it was really good. It all juiced so fast too, then I just rinsed it all in running water immediately after and drank the most delicious juice I've ever had.




What I think is going on with many people is that the pandemic is making us go into 'preservation' mode, so that we are expending less energy and using less, and this is actually a good thing. I believe the lack of motivation is directly related to the pandemic and lack of resources and its natural and its ok. When we return to normal, things should pick up more.

Also, fixing and reparing your Chakras (energy centers) can be helpful.


And, if you think your thyroid hormones are low, you can take Thyroid Edge:
D3 with fish oils for brain:

 

[Geauvoir]

my biggest productivity secret is to align one's actions with a clear vision for who one wants to be

if one achieves this, one's motivation becomes correlated with one's physiological state - the body and brain start to work for you instead of against you. Like, the body will remove the feeling of tiredness so that you can keep working.

in this scenario you no longer need to make schedules and todo-lists, you simply become driven to do stuff all the time. Sometimes to the point where it's unhealthy.

That's actually really interesting. Have you heard of the four tendencies by Gretchen Rubin? You sound like you might be a "Rebel" because a sense of identity motivates you.

 

[Geauvoir]

Not too much productivity these days, unless its to find a way to make the world a little better. I asked my community to build a food box so we could share food with people that need it, and this led to people posting where food boxes already existed, so my productivity will be about sharing some food and other items I have too much of to make more space, as I've spent my whole life buying and now I need to spend the rest of my life giving things away.

View attachment 6179

I'm newly retired from 20 years of productivity, so I'm relishing the lazy me and have done this really well for months now and hope I can begin some productivity with decluttering, but its going to take finding motivation. I did a free decluttering workshop and got one corner of the house completed in 7 days, so I need to give things away every week on my local 'buy nothing' group.

For now, I am happy if I can make a meal, clean the dishes, take a shower, play on the internet and do some walking with my dog in a little park each day, and just attempt to downsize clutter a bit. Its clutter that is in shelving for the most part, but things like too much food, clothing, and books for example.

For exersize, I walk, bike and bought a weight lifting bench and work with ten pound hand weights to exersize forearms and situps. My motivation for now is learning new skills such as tying fishing knots, kayak fishing, steam and pressure canning, reading books and giving them away. Because we are in a pandemic, everything or almost everything has to be home based. I guess productivity would be, make small goals like 'do 5 decluttering things in each room each day'. Something like that. I'm not OCD unless its about seeing can labels in my cupboard from the front, not too good at the J tasks this way. I knew an INTJ that would color code his shirts and throw out mismatching hangers if they weren't the same color, I am on the other end of the spectrum as 95% P, don't care that much.

In contrast, if I'm being paid for it, when I worked, I would instantly satisfy any email or request and I was always the first to do so. Very competitive, had intense drive to get all assignments out of my way in a whirlwind. But when its just me, my main goal is to just let go of all that, and find the plain and simple 'being' me in order to start to find my spirit and joy and lighten up, so right now, thats all I care about, just to lighten up and have some fun. I want to discover some simple hobbies, but as an INTP I'm 95% I, 60% N, 60% T, 95% P, so I don't try to categorize into being productive I just want to clear something out of my way fast when its in front of me so its not consuming my attention and so I don't have to think about it anymore.

What helps my brain function for decisions better? B-Complex, B12, Boron, and Holy Basil extract, they help to calm me and make my brain get into that 'mode' of handling everything.

View attachment 6180

Something else that puts me into high gear, is raw juicing which helps my brain become very functional.

I peel beets, carrots, red apples, and wash everything else. Bundle up leaves like chard and put them into the blender portion, but put the hard veggies into the juicer portion, push a button and out comes raw beet and carrot and apple juice into the chard leaves in the blender. Then, switch and put the blender on, and combine greens with the juice, add bee pollen and maca powder and voila, a juice that will put energy in high gear.

I did a juice with: Two carrots, a few chard leaves torn off the heavy veins, three stalks celery, one red apple, one cucumber, one large raw beet, a little parsley. I was expecting it to be awful and it was really good. It all juiced so fast too, then I just rinsed it all in running water immediately after and drank the most delicious juice I've ever had.




What I think is going on with many people is that the pandemic is making us go into 'preservation' mode, so that we are expending less energy and using less, and this is actually a good thing. I believe the lack of motivation is directly related to the pandemic and lack of resources and its natural and its ok. When we return to normal, things should pick up more.

Also, fixing and reparing your Chakras (energy centers) can be helpful.


And, if you think your thyroid hormones are low, you can take Thyroid Edge:
D3 with fish oils for brain:

That is sweet. You seem to be enjoying your retirement tons, in a very healthy way. I'd like that for myself one day.

 

[dr froyd]

my biggest productivity secret is to align one's actions with a clear vision for who one wants to be

if one achieves this, one's motivation becomes correlated with one's physiological state - the body and brain start to work for you instead of against you. Like, the body will remove the feeling of tiredness so that you can keep working.

in this scenario you no longer need to make schedules and todo-lists, you simply become driven to do stuff all the time. Sometimes to the point where it's unhealthy.

That's actually really interesting. Have you heard of the four tendencies by Gretchen Rubin? You sound like you might be a "Rebel" because a sense of identity motivates you.

I hadn't heard of her before but looks like she has some interesting ideas. The rebel type seems to fit pretty well lol, especially the part with rejecting even one's own rules. I learned that about myself a while back – I simply cannot make rules for myself because I immediately will do the opposite.

it also underscores the point that people are different and respond to various types of motivation differently